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Bonzai Junior (TV channel)
Bonzai Junior '''is an American pay television channel that is owned by the Bonzai Network Group, a subsidiary of BritCan Entertainment through its television networks division. The channel, aimed at children under the age of six, features a mix of originally-produced and acquired programming geared towards a preschooler audience. The channel originally launched in the fall of 2004 as '''BonBon, a multiplex channel of parent service Bonzai Network co-owned with Sesame Workshop. Following Sesame's exit from the venture in 2005, as well as the network's independent growth afterward and the re-branding of all of BritCan's kid-oriented networks under the Bonzai brand, BonBon was rebranded to Bonzai Junior on September 16, 2014. As of September 2018, Bonzai Junior is available to approximately 70.473 million pay television households in the United States. History As BonBon (2004-14) In February 2003, BritCan Media began plans to launch an edutainment-based subscription channel known as "Little B", oriented towards "delivering quality and award-winning programming" for children between the ages of 2 and 11. The service was to be formatted as an educational counterpart to Bonzai Network — in order to fulfill the FCC's recent requirements for educational programming. For various reasons, Little B did not launch in its proposed state, though BritCan would reconfigure the failed project in September 2003 as a 24-hour cable television network for preschool-aged children, hiring Sesame Workshop (which ironically, had previously co-owned competitor Noggin with MTV Networks' Nickelodeon) to assist in the network's operations; within the same month, the two companies announced the launch of BonBon as a service dedicated to "championing early childhood through the lens of entertainment and education". BonBon launched on October 18, 2004 to over 19 million subscribers across Comcast Digital Cable and Cablevision providers. At its launch, the network's programming schedule was divided into dayparted programming blocks based on "the regular day of a preschooler"; as described in a press release, mornings featured "engaging and lively" shows to get children out of bed, while the afternoon lineup focused on curricular-based themes such as mathematics and reading, and the evening block provided calm-natured series helping children prepare for bedtime. As BonBon was advertised as a commercial-free service, its revenue being sourced primarily from subscription fees paid by pay television providers, breaks between programs featured promotions for the network and/or other Bonzai-related channels, as well as various short-form series (such as the Daytime Emmy-nominated Lisa and Dan), other "tie-in" media, and only a few advertisements aimed towards parents and caregivers. In 2005, Sesame Workshop relinquished its stake in BonBon to BritCan. The buyout was heavily caused by the Workshop's involvement in the creation of competitor PBS Kids Sprout, as executives felt unable to fully commit to the operations of both channels without creating controversy. Despite the split, Sesame's production deal with BritCan continued until August of 2008, and series initially produced within the deal continued their broadcast on BonBon. As Bonzai Junior (2014-present) TBA On-air identity/bumpers TBA Programming Further information: List of programs broadcast by Bonzai Junior Related services Bonzai Jr. HD Bonzai Jr. HD is a high definition simulcast of Bonzai Jr. that broadcasts in 1080i resolution format; it was launched on June 4, 2012. Most of the network's post-2009 programs in the network's library are natively broadcast in HD, As of 2016, most cable and IPTV systems, along with DirecTV carry the network in HD.Category:TV Channels Category:Bonzai Jr. Category:BritCan Communications